Netflix is the most popular streaming service available right now that does not allow everyone to upload content to it for free. One of the problems of being such a huge network is the fact that they are under greater scrutiny than ever before. In a country like India with a highly diverse population, it is not difficult to offend someone, and that is what Netflix seems to have done.
Netflix may be the most popular movie streaming platform in the world, but it faces tough competition in India due to Hotstar. The ‘Star’ network is perhaps the biggest media network in India, and is part of Indian culture.
Not long ago, the most popular Indian soap operas were running for thousands and thousands of episodes. Although the younger generation is geared more towards western shows, the Indian film industry is still booming and has a much bigger market in India than any western movie could.
Recently, both of these networks decided to self-censor. Let’s go ahead and take a look at why this happened.
Netflix Under Fire for Allegedly Promoting Child Pornography
Despite the fact that Netflix has not promoted child pornography, it has had to face a lot of flak for its new show ‘Baby.’ Although Baby documents an actual event and raises a lot of questions and awareness about child trafficking, people fail to realize it.
Because of this, Netflix has been forced to start censoring content which portrays children engaged in sexual behavior. For the most part, all of this content raises awareness and shows us the consequences of pedophilia. Despite all of that, people who actually want to watch a show which has any censored content need to either move out of India or find an alternative solution.
How to Unban Censored Content on Netflix
According to Reddit users reviews, the best way of unblocking Netflix is to access all of your favorite shows through another country. You can do this by using either Tunnelbear or another VPN of your choice.
A VPN routes your internet traffic through one of its secure servers which are hosted remotely around the world. This way, the server that you connect to will not be able to tell that you are connecting to it from India and you will connect to the service of the country where the VPN server is hosted.
Also, remember that the service in other countries may have much more content than you can find in India. Due to copyright licensing issues, Netflix offers different content in different countries. The most amount of content can be found in the US, UK, and Japan.
Remember that not all VPNs can unblock Netflix. For this reason, it is best to take a look at the reviews of the VPN that you are about to buy to see if it works on Netflix or not.
Hotstar and Other Local Networks Follow
The main reason why other networks, such as Hotstar, have decided to follow in Netflix’s wake and ban all content of suggestive nature that depicts children is the fact that not having adequate self-regulation could lead to regulation from the governments.
As of right now, there is a censor board in India which monitors its TV shows and other media content. However, there is no law for any online streaming platform so they are allowed to operate as freely as they want. Due to pressure that Netflix faced from the portrayal of certain Indian politicians in their hit series ‘Sacred Games,’ there are rumors that regulation could be on the way.
Netflix has not only censored content which places children in suggestive themes, but also content which tries to incite a reaction from any religious community. This could be a good thing if done correctly, but could also be very dangerous if abused. Looking at past cases, it is hard to imagine that there is even a correct way to censor content.
Looking Forward
As of right now, it seems that Netflix has no intention to stop censoring the content that they have begun to censor. Despite many people in India being for freedom of expression and wanting to know more about crimes such as child trafficking, there are other people who do not want to see taboo content broadcast openly in the country.
Whatever your opinion, it is up to you. If you feel like Netflix has crossed a line, then this censorship will have no effect on you since you were not going to watch such content in the first place. However, if you do want to experience the censored content than your best bet is to use a VPN. It is incredibly cheap to buy one and all you need to do to access other Netflix regions is press a button.
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